The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1887-03-31

earth Be removed, though the mountains
be cast into the midst of the sea, though
the waters thereof roar and be troubled,
though the mountains shake with the
swelling thereof. Selah."
But my text suggests something in ad-
vance OF any thing have said. We must
all quit this life. However sound our
health may be, it must break down; how
ever good our title may be to houses,
land and estates, we must surrender them
We will hear a voice bidding US away
from all these places. We will have to
start on pilgrimage from which we can
never come back. We will have seen for
the last time the evening star, and watch
ed the last summer cloud, and felt the
breath of the spring winds for the last
time. Hands of loved ones may be
stretched out to hold US back, but they
can not-go we must. About all other
exits and changes we may trfle, but not
about this. Stupendous moment of
life-quitting. Oh, when the great
tides of eternity arise about US,
and fill the soul and surround it,
and sweep it out toward rapture or
woe, alb, that will be ssthe swelling of Jor-
dan!" I know people sometimes talk
very merrily about the departure from
this life. am very sorry to hear It, But
men do make fun of the passage from one
world to another. Byron joked great
deal about it, but when it came he shiv-
cred with horror. Many an lnfidel has
scoffed at the idea of fearing a future
world, but lying upon his pillow in the
last hour his teeth have chartered with
terror. I saw, in Westminster Abbey, an
epitaph which poet ordered to be put
upon his tomb:
Life is a jest,
And all things show it.
zA@skHe / thought so once,
But now know it.
thought how inapt that, in place of
sepulchre, men should try their witticisms.
A great German having rejected Christ,
in his last moment said: s'Give me light,
give me lightr' Oh, we may be smart
with our witticism about the last hour;
but when it comes and the tides are rising,
and the surf is beating, and the winds are
bowling, we will each one, my brethren,
find for himself that it is ssthe swelling of
Jordanp' Our natural courage won't hold
out then. However familiar we may have
been with scenes of mortality, however
much we may have screwed our courage
up, we want something more than natural
resources.
When the northeast wind blows off
from the sea of death, it will put
out all earthly lights. The lamp of
the gospel, God-lighted, is the only
lamp that can stand in that blast. The
weakest arm holding that shall not be
confounded; the strongest one rejoicing
that shalt tumble and die. When the Jor-
dan rises in its wrath, the first dash of it's
vu a will cyxy ~
how sad it is for man to attempt this life
without religion. We see what doleful
thing it is for man to go down into the
misfortunes of life without Christian
solace; but if that be so, how much more
terrible when that man comes face to face
with the solemnities of the last hour! oh,
if in the bright sunshine of health and
prosperity man felt the need of some
thing better, how will he feel when the
shadows of the last hour gather above hi,
pillowa If, in the warmth OF worldly
prosperity, he was sometimes dismayed,
how will he feel when the last chill creeps
over hint If while things were compare
lively smooth he was disquieted, what
will he do in the agonies of dissolutiona
If, in the land of peace in which thou trusted,
they wearied thee, what wilt thou do amid the
swelling of Jordan?
oh, rejoice to know that so many of
Gods children have gone through that
pass without shudder. Some one said
to dying Christian:
'Isn't it hard for you to get out Of this
worldl'
s'Oh, no." he says, sit is easy dying: 1t
is blessed dying; it is glorious dying"
And then he pointed to clock on the
wall and said:
"The last two hours in which have been
dying have had more joy than all the
years of my life''
the battle, and there were many seriously
wounded, and there was one man dying,
and the General said:
All, my dear fellow, you seem very
much wounded. I am afraid you are not
going to get WELL"
s'sNo," said the soldier, ~ am not going
to get well, but feel very happy.n
Oh, have seen them, and SO have YOU.
go out of this life without tear on their
cheek. There was weeping all around
the room, but no weeping in the bed: the
cheeks were dry. They were not throw \
into darkness; they were lifted up. We
saw the tides rising around them, and the
swelling OF the wave. 1t washed them off
from the cares and tolls of life, it washed
them on toward the beach of heaven.
They waved to US farewell kiss as they
stood on deck, and floated down further
and further, waited by gales from heaven,
until they were lost to our sight-mor-
tality having become immortality
Life's duty done, as sinks the clay,
Light from its load the spirit flies;
While Heaven and earth combine to say,
How blest the righteous when he dies.
What high consolation to you that your
departed friends were not submerged in
the swelling of Jordani The Israelites
were just as thoroughly alive on the west
ern banks of the Jordan as they had been
on the eastern banks of the Jordan: and
our departed Christian friends have only
crossed over--not sick, not dead, not ex-
hausted, not exiting uished, not blotted out,
but with healthier. aspiration and stout
er pulses, and keener eyesight, and better
prospects, crossed over, their sins, their
physical and mental disquiet, all left
clear this side, an eternally flowing, i'm.
passable obstacle between them and all
human and satanic pursuit Crossed over
Oh, shake hands of congratulation with
all the bereaved in the consideration that
our departed Christian friends are safe!
Why was there, years ago, so much joy
IN certain circles in New York when peo-
pie heard from their frioude xrybc ,x,o,o -,